


Missing in action

by I_hate_mages_No_you_dont



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Angst, Mention of blood, Post Awakening, nanders - Freeform, pre Dragon Age 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:54:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9324488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_hate_mages_No_you_dont/pseuds/I_hate_mages_No_you_dont
Summary: Fanfic for Januanders Day 8: Anders and the Warden: Apart from my tiny Amell that appeared in "I'm a healer?" only one other Warden has met Anders so far. My Cousland. And she basically adopted him. As seen in the following one-shot.Right after her return to Vigil's Keep Elanor Cousland finds out Anders and Justice are missing. How did this happen?(by kittenmage)





	

Elanor Cousland was furious. Why couldn’t she leave the Keep for even a few months to fulfil her duties as the Queen of Ferelden on a long overdue political visit to Orlais without coming back and finding two of her friends missing in action along with countless other Wardens, including a former Templar? And learning that said Templar had left behind correspondence indicating the attempt to bring Anders back to the Circle!

As she stomped through the corridor towards the dining hall, some new recruits hastily moved out of the way. They had never met the Warden-Commander before. The famous Hero of Ferelden. So, they were all curtsies and bowed heads and fearful glances in the hopes they hadn’t done something wrong. They couldn’t know that Elanor normally wasn’t this intimidating wave over anger that rolled through Vigil’s Keep like a storm cloud.

The door to the dining room flung open and collided with the wall in a loud bang. Its angles creaked in protest.

“HOWE!!!”

The angry yell, echoed through the suddenly very quiet room.

Nathaniel, the man in question, stood up from his place next to Oghren and Velanna. Both elf and dwarf were silent. Which was quite a miracle for the dwarf. He never seemed too intimidated to shut up. Not even when faced with an Archdemon and thousands of darkspawn. Yet on the other hand, he had seen Elanor in battle. And never wanted to be on the wrong side of that woman’s great sword.

“Warden-Commander.”

Elanor came to a sudden halt directly in front of Nathaniel, glaring up at him. It didn’t hinder her anger that he was almost a head taller than her. If possible it fuelled her even more. She positively boiled with rage.

“Don’t ‘Commander’ me, Nate!”

The furious gleam in her eyes didn’t waver at Nathaniel’s still stern expression. It get even more intense instead.

“How could you let that happen?!”

A snorting laughter burst from Oghren. “You just said ‘how’…as in ‘Howe’… you know…” His own joke got stuck in his throat as he met Elanor’s gaze. He gulped and fell silent. Then the Warden Commander returned her full attention on Nathaniel.

“He is your… best friend... is he not?!” She stressed the term ‘best friend’. Elanor was fully aware that there had been something a little different than friendship between Nathaniel and Anders from time to time. The emphasis on the words made Nathaniel’s facial expression crack for the first time. His eyes dropped. He could no longer face Elanor’s accusing stare.

“Someone conscripted a Templar into the Wardens. Which in itself is fine. But none of you thought it necessary to keep an I on him?! To make sure he wasn’t after Anders!”

Her gaze wandered over to the others. Oghren mumbled some incoherent explanation. Velanna stared at the opposite wall and Sigrun who sat at the window, lowered her gaze in shame. All of the other Wardens followed the scene in silent shock.

The sound of Nate clearing his throat made Elanor stop her accusing glare at the others.

“We… did. There wasn’t anything indicating he wanted to bring Anders back to a circle. Anders said, we shouldn’t worry and that he was fine.”

Elanor growled at that. Her hands clenched to fists, she managed to take a deep breath before she spoke up again.

“You unspeakable idiot! If Morrigan was around, I’d have her turn you into a toad!” Nathaniel blinked at the unexpected threat. “Has it never occurred to you, that Anders didn’t want you to worry?! That he just said he was fine, when in reality he was scared?! Damn you Nate, have you never listened to him? How he talked about the Templars and the Circle, always with that ironic smile? Did you seriously believe for a second he felt as light hearted about it, as he tried to make us believe?!”

A quizzical expression washed over Nathaniel’s face. It told Elanor all she needed to know. Anders had apparently even fooled his grumpy lover.

“So all of you are telling me, that you had no idea this Warden-Templar planned to drag Anders back to Kinloch while on the current mission?!”

The pointedly averted gaze of her friends confirmed the suspicion. Nathaniel, though, spoke up after a longer pause.

“That’s why we send Justice with them. Varel…”

“Varel had the order to send a certain number of Wardens on that mission. From me. He chose a lot of new ones and only Anders and Justice from the more experienced ones. Didn’t that look suspicious to you?! You know my teams always had at least an equal number of experienced Wardens and new recruits! You could and should have protested! You’re the son of an Arl! Fighting tactics, combat training. That’s not unfamiliar to you, Nate!” Another death glare and Nathaniel winced. “And now they are all missing!!”

Heavy footsteps echoed through the hallway. Accompanied by the clanking of armour. When Elanor turned towards the unexpected sound, her face visibly softened.

“Look who I found!”

Alistair Theirin entered the room, which caused the up until now silent crowd to stir and bow awkwardly. A content looking orange cat was perched on Alistair’s arm. Oghren got up from his seat immediately to pat his former companion’s back. “Alistair! Good to see you. Your wife was about to feed us to the crows.”

“Talking about me?”

Zevran casually leaned against the door frame, smirking at the dwarf. His steps and entrance had been inaudible and unnoticed next to Alistair.

“Cursed nugshit! Zevran!” Oghren’s voice was half amusement, half growl. But when Zevran laughed and came over, he found himself in a bone crushing hug. “You still owe me a drink, elf!”

“You still owe me a fortune and a dagger. You’re not using this one to clean your toenails, my friend!”

A soft meow interrupted the banter and was all Elanor focused on. The ginger cat in Alistair’s arms looked at her in recognition. It was Ser Pounce-A-Lot.

“Isn’t this a cute cat? I’m not one for cats, but this one…”

“Why is Anders’ cat here?” Elanor Cousland ignored the king’s cueing and purrs at the cat and instantly was back glaring at Nate.

“He was deemed a distraction by several other Warden’s… he was kept here when Anders was…”

“DO ALL OF YOU GO MAD WHEN I’M NOT AROUND?”

The sudden outburst silenced the whole room again. The curious chatter in the background died down abruptly. Only Pounce continued to purr and claw at Alistair’s breastplate.

“Why would Pounce suddenly be a distraction? He was with us, when we fought the Broodmother! For the Maker’s sake, Nathaniel you were with Justice, Anders and me down there!”

“I was… but..”

“No! I never made you stop brooding in your corner when you still thought I was a traitor, or Oghren stop drinking before a fight. Velanna is allowed to mistrust humans as much as she wants and Sigrun…” The dwarf’s eyes widened in fear but Elanor apparently couldn’t think of anything to say about her. “All of your personal habits and quirks were completely acceptable while I am here. So was Anders’ cat. I gave it to him the first place, Howe!”

Nathaniel flinched at the pointed use of his surname. A look of guilt appeared in his eyes.

“When he comes back, I hope he kicks your butt and leaves you!”

This sentence made something snap in the expression of Nathaniel’s face. He was angry. Or hurt. Or both. 

Without further ado, Elanor turned towards the younger recruits.

“Everyone out! Meal time will be postponed. I am sorry for the inconvenience.”

A buzz of hushed whispers, chairs dragging over the stone floor, many feet leaving in a hurry and a few curious side glances later, the hall was empty. Almost. Elanor’s old companions were assembled around a single table now. All eyes on Nathaniel and the Warden-Commander.

“What happened?”

The silence began to tear on her nerves. Elanor’s rage had subsided. What was left behind was the nagging fear for her lost friends and the wish to understand what had led to this unfortunate turn of events. Yet Nathaniel still refused to speak. His dark look was fixed at his own hands.

“By the tits of my ancestors! They fought about the cat.” Oghren lost his patience even before Elanor could ask again. Nathaniel looked up and stared the dwarf down. Oghren just shrugged. “No use being grumpy at me. Won’t bring the blond idiot back. And Cousland deserves an answer.” The dwarf reached for his huge mug of ale and drank half of it in one go.

“I can speak for myself”, Nathaniel hissed through clenched teeth.

“Well then…”

“When the complaints got louder about the cat, I asked Anders to leave him here while he was gone on missions.”

A dry chuckled escaped Velanna and she spoke up for the first time. “Asked? You stormed in here like the Commander did and said he should keep the filthy thing out of everyone’s bedrolls”

At first Nate seemed about to snap back at her, then he sunk down in his chair. “Not my finest hour…” He buried his face in his hands for a moment. “It was a cursed day. Darkspawn sightings at two different locations, the new recruits were rubbish and Anders was avoiding me with stupid excuses for days.”

“You telling me you were pissed because you couldn’t shag the mage?!” Oghren interrupted but was silenced by a determined glare from Elanor. 

“So you fought about Pounce and that’s why you didn’t intervene when Varel proposed the ridiculous set up for the group.”

Nathaniel barely nodded. “I offered to come along, but Anders told me to fuck off and that he didn’t need my protection.” The proud rouge had lost his spite. He seemed a lot more shaken than he admitted.

“I’m sorry…” Elanor reached over to place a hand on Nathaniel’s shoulder. His head jerked round, his eye narrowed in confusion.

“I shouldn’t have said that earlier.” A deep sigh left her and Elanor felt the soft touch of Alistair’s hand lightly squeezing hers. “You’re both idiots. I bet he didn’t talk to you because that Templar wouldn’t leave him alone. I just hope they will be found before there is any more damage.”

She turned towards the cat that was perched upon the king’s lap purring contently. “We’ll find your foolish owner, Pounce. We’ll bring Anders back.” At the mention of the mage’s name the cat looked up at her. Head tilted, eyes wide as if understanding what was said. Anders had always claimed the cat did and for once Elanor was ready to believe it. She really hoped that everything was fine. That it was just Darkspawn or some bandits that kept the Warden’s from Vigil’s Keep. What could make a whole group of Warden’s vanish anyway?!

Somehow, the Maker didn’t seem to hear Elanor these days. As this was the moment when the heavy door flung open again and one of the younger Warden’s appeared.

“Commander! They’ve been found!”

There was a huge commotion. Everyone was on their feet immediately. Pounce jumped from Alistair’s lap and followed the group of people on their hasty exit from the dining hall and down towards the courtyard.

The picture that greeted them there, seemed as if sprung from a nightmare.

Several bodies, covered by sheets were carefully removed from a wagon. The few glimpses at hands or feet dangling from under the sheets were gruesome indeed. Bloody. Torn. Violently ripped apart.

“No…”

Elanor’s eyes filled with tears before she could speak up. Alistair’s hand appeared on her shoulder, holding her back from running forward, searching for her friend.

“Warden-Commander.” The Warden in charge of the search party came forth. His face as pale as the sheets. “I am sorry to tell there was no survivor. We don’t know what happened. They were torn apart. All of them. There is no indication to what caused this.”

For a moment, it felt to Elanor as if her heart had set out. She heard the words of the Warden but she couldn’t place them. Couldn’t process what he was saying. The soft brush of a tail against her legs indicated that Pounce had followed them outside. Without thinking she dropped to her knees and picked up the cat. He meowed in confusion.

“Commander?”

Apparently Elanor really hadn’t been listening, her gaze firmly locked on the dead Wardens.

“Commander, the mage and… the spirit are missing.”

Next to her, Elanor heard a hitched breath and then saw two strong hands that grabbed the other Warden by the collar, hoisting him up.

“What do you mean? Missing?!” Nathaniel pressed out. His eyes were red. His face even paler than usual.

“Anders and Justice weren’t among the dead. Kristoff’s corpse was. But Justice wasn’t there.”

The following explanation how they found the clearing in the forest where there lay all the dead Warden’s in a haze of blood and gore with all the tiny meaningless details brushed over Elanor like gust of wind. She heard it, but couldn’t catch it. It floated before her without being relevant.

Pounce meowed against her chest, rubbing his head against her neck. As Elanor reached up to pet the cat’s head, she felt a sudden wet drop hit her hand. Instead of stroking Ser Pounce-A-Lot, she reached for her face. She was crying. 

Anders was gone. And only the Maker knew if he was still alive.


End file.
